Over the last two decades researchers have developed photonic equivalents of the transistor, and even been able to construct all-optical logic circuits. These devices could even be made much faster than existing silicon transistor equivalents. However the power requirements of the photonic devices and their size are currently many orders of magnitude higher than the transistor equivalent. The power dissipation of such photonic devices may limit the integration density achievable with them.
Thus, there is a need for an improved integrated circuit structure providing optical functionality.